The present invention relates to a connector, used to connect wire harnesses or the like, having a terminal retainer connected to a connector housing so as to prevent rearward withdrawal of metal terminals inserted in respective terminal receiving chambers of the connector housing.
In retaining a metal terminal which is inserted in a terminal receiving chamber of a connector housing, it is a common practice to form a flexible retaining arm integrally on an inner surface of the terminal receiving chamber, so that the flexible retaining arm can engage the metal terminal inserted in the terminal receiving chamber, thereby preventing rearward withdrawal of the metal terminal. Recently, a construction has been proposed in which a terminal retainer is connected to a rear portion of a connector housing, so that the terminal retainer, either alone or in combination with the above-mentioned flexible retaining arm, can positively prevent rearward withdrawal of the metal terminal.
FIG. 5A shows such a conventional retaining construction, wherein a retaining piece c is provided integrally at each terminal receiving chamber b of a connector housing made of a synthetic resin, and projections e and f for engaging a terminal retainer member d are provided respectively on upper and lower walls of the connector housing.
The terminal retainer member d has a frame g and upper and lower flexible lock arms h and i. The flexible lock arm h has a provisionally-retaining portion h.sub.2 and a completely-retaining portion h.sub.3 which are interconnected by an abutment step portion h.sub.1. Terminal portions l for engagement respectively with electric wire-clamping portions k.sub.1 of metal terminals k (FIG. 5B) are provided at a front portion of the frame g having terminal insertion holes j.
In the above construction, the connector housing a and the terminal retainer member d are connected provisionally in a condition shown in FIG. 5B. Each metal terminal k is inserted into the terminal receiving chamber b through the terminal insertion hole j of the frame g to be engaged with the retaining piece c. In this condition, since the abutment step portion h.sub.1 of the flexible lock arm h is abutted against a rear end a.sub.1 of the upper wall of the connector housing a, the terminal retainer member d is prevented from advancing further, and hence will not be moved accidentally to a completely-connected position.
Then, the terminal retainer member d is moved upward in a direction intersecting the advancing direction, so that the abutment step portion h.sub.1 is displaced upwardly from the rear end a.sub.1 of the upper wall of the connector housing a, as shown in FIG. 5C. In this condition, the terminal retainer member d is advanced again, so that the completely-retaining portion h.sub.3 of the flexible lock arm h is engaged with the projection e, with the flexible lock arm i engaged with the projection f, thus shifting the terminal retainer member into the completely-connected condition shown in FIG. 5D.
In the foregoing conventional structure, when the terminal retainer member d is to be shifted from the provisionally-connected condition to the completely-connected condition with respect to the connector housing a, the terminal retainer member is required to advance in the same direction as the direction of insertion of the metal terminal, and also to move in a direction intersecting this direction. This multiple-direction movement results in a required increase in the external size of the terminal retainer member d.
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing, and seeks to provide a construction in which a terminal retainer member will not be moved accidentally from a provisionally-connected condition to a completely-connected condition with respect to a connector housing, without increasing the size of the terminal retainer member.